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Can a merchant charge extra for accepting credit cards?

No, the average merchant cannot charge extra for accepting credit cards. This is clearly stated in merchant agreements and the individual Operating Guidelines of Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. However, certain merchants can charge a convenience fee for accepting credit cards if that is not their normal business procedure. Typically we see this with government controlled utilities such as a water bill. The convenience fee amount is frequently regulated by state law.

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Admin moved comment here from PCI compliance article: ” Although charging more for a credit card transaction is frowned upon by VISA/MC you can however set your price at a certain level to take into consideration the fees charged by V/MC and the processor and then instead offer a “cash discount” to customers paying cash instead of Visa/MC. Bottom line is the merchant has no control over the fees. I think it is a crime that the card issuers and processors charge the merchant for customers to use charge cards when ultimately the charge should go to the customer.”

HI Todd, thanks for your comment.
Merchants DO have more control over fees than they may be aware. Interchange optimization, least cost routing, and automated discounts are all tools we provide merchants to help them control costs.
Consumers don’t pay directly for merchant overhead such as lights, rent etc nor the cost to manufacture a product and credit card processing fes should be no different. The merchant is being provided a service- among others, the ability to accept plastic and have that transaction processed in a couple of seconds.

Thank you discount man. You’re right, cash discounts have always been an option. What I meant to say was discount for steering to lower cost cards. In the past it has been against operating regulations to do that.